Blockchain gaming developer Cross The Ages (CTA) said Monday it had scooped up $12 million in a seed funding round that included some of the industry’s heavy hitters.

Cross The Ages’ “free-to-play-and-earn” metaverse gaming platform saw funding from the likes of Ubisoft and Animoca Brands. Sebastien Borget, co-founder and chief operating officer of The Sandbox as well as Polygon — the blockchain network that the game is based on — also participated in the round.

Funding will be used to further the game’s development, retain talent and drive its go-to-market activities, according to a statement. The game has garnered a social community exceeding 380,000.

Cross The Ages Universe is a digital collectible card game set in a dystopian clash of worlds based on seven fantasy and science fiction novels from leading authors.

The firm itself has a growing team of 140 which includes 70 artists who have worked on major titles Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Blockchain gaming is still in its infancy and digital card games rub up against popular franchises including Blizzard’s Hearthstone and Wizard of the Coast’s Magic the Gathering: Arena.

“Since their creation, collectible cards have been cardboard, paper or even plastic at times yet they have always been represented as a physical medium,” said CTA CEO Sami Chlagou. “The advent of NFTs makes it possible to collect cards in a digital format, so CTA will deliver this for users, while also giving them the opportunity to hold a physical version.”

Though not all gamers are convinced of the technology underpinning the free-to-play model. A report by PC Gamer on Wednesday said that players of free-to-play auto battler Storybook Brawl are calling for it to be booted off Steam following FTX.US’s acquisition of that game’s developer last week.

Still, CTA said players would be able to “commodify” their digital assets in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) via the platform’s in-game economy while providing users with the option to lease, trade and sell them or convert them to physical cards.

The game is expected to launch to the public in June following testing in March and early access to select users in May, according to its roadmap.

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